“Very conscious of the fact that an effort was being made to destroy my mind, because I was deprived of books, deprived of any means of writing, deprived of human companionship. You never know how much you need it until you’re deprived of it.”

Let’s say there are prospects for a new Nigeria, but I don’t think we have a new Nigeria yet.

History teaches us to beware of the excitation of the liberated and the injustices that often accompany their righteous thirst for justice.

My father used to tell me stories before I fell asleep. When the children would gather, at a certain point, I had a tendency to make up my own elementary variations on stories I had heard, or to invent totally new ones.

To achieve any change in the minds of the youth, there must be reorientation in terms of materialistic tendencies, corruption and crime generally.

I never hesitated, as a student, in embracing the necessity of violence. In South Africa, I didn’t just accept it; I looked forward to it as a mission.

Religion has really spawned some monsters. It always has, historically. Go all the way back to the Inquisition, you know, the Crusades, the Jehad and so on.

Don’t take shadows too seriously. Reality is your only safety. Continue to reject illusion.

Be yourself. Ultimately just be yourself.

The youth should come together to challenge the status quo. They must not give up.

But the ultimate lesson is just sit down and write. That’s all.

Books and all forms of writing are terror to those who wish to suppress the truth.

As a global citizen, I sometimes feel like denying my identity.

Intolerance has become, I think, the reigning ideology of the world today, the intolerance versus intolerance and it’s taken on lethal proportions.

For me, justice is the prime condition of humanity.

We all have our individual artistic temperaments as well as partisanships in creative directions. And we have strong opinions on the merits of the products of our occupation.

When you are looking for corruption, you should look at the entire stratum of the society, while some forms of corruption are direct, others are indirect.

I think everyone is most confident when they are just being themselves and not trying to impress others.

I mean, everybody would love to have their clothes torn off by a mob of girls, but being screamed at is different.

There is only one way in the world to be distinguished. Follow your instinct! Be yourself, and you’ll be somebody. Be one more blind follower of the blind, and you will have the oblivion you desire.

I logically don’t believe that all this stuff [surrounding us] is generated from dust. But I’m also not like “Jesus Christ came down to save us.” It’s almost selfish to think that human beings, on this plane of reality, are the end of it.

Some values must be universal, like human rights and the equal worth of every human being.

In our community, we have a duty to strengthen the weakest among us to build a better society.

You cannot fail at being yourself. A cat doesn’t try to be a tiger, and you shouldn’t try to be something you aren’t. You are a process, not a product. Your job is to discover what you are and create that creature.

Women need a reason to have sex, men just need a place.